Project Review

My final outcome is a short plot based fashion film. The story and theme are inspired by the spookiness of the cartoon series Scooby Doo. My film is very loosely linked to the original theme as during my research stage I sourced inspiration from many other points, this helped my film be more original and more my own than a direct homage to Scooby Doo. The project has come along way and developed itself almost naturally. Everything came to be almost instinctively and with the helpful guidance of tutors.

My Blog helps to show how my learning affected my project as I wrote down and reflected on the challenges and situations I had to overcome to progress and finish my project. I used my blog to critically think about my project, to evaluate the good and bad and fully dissect the ins and outs. My sketchbook was one of the most important places that showed my learning and my development in this project. I recorded everything that I was thinking visually in my sketchbook. This was a useful tool when it came to finally creating everything for my film and the actual film itself. It was also a useful planning tool as I could sample and sketch everything before the final creating. I also kept a personal notebook throughout the project where I would note down thoughts, ideas, things to research, and lists. This notebook was basically my brain, everything was recorded in it, including thoughts that did not end up having any use towards my project. This notebook helped to remind me of things I wanted to do and needed to do to help push my project further. This notebook was similar to my sketchbook in that it was a helpful way for me to plan every little detail of my project. 

One of my targets was to make an interesting visual film which I think I have successfully done by taking different mediums and putting them together. Another target of mine was to scout good locations that gave a good feeling to the film, I found some great locations that had really strong character and worked wonderfully in the film. I had another target to create props and sets for the film, this target I feel I have met very successfully, I put a lot of time and effort creating these details for the film. I had also planned for there to be more than just a film as the final outcome, I wanted to create some sort of promotional piece to go with it. I decided this promotional piece would be a poster so I set a target to create an interesting and fun poster to compliment the film.  Targets I added later revolved primarily around the editing process, I set a target to go through and make sure the film was under 10 minuets long. I did not want the film to be dragged out and dull rather have it be snappy and exciting.

I had a few developments that contributed to the final outcome. One of these was re-finding the director Michel Gondry and particularly the film ‘Be Kind Rewind.’ this film really inspired me a lot and really gave the direction for my film. Another development that contributed to the final outcome was on the shoot day realizing how much of a challenge shooting with a camera connected to the wall was. This changed the way I approached filming and changed the types of shots I got with the VHS camera and also led me to make the decision of including digital footage in my film. 

During one on one tutorials I received helpful advice from my tutors particularly with the actually filming elements and research pointers. There were a few scenes that did not look quite as good as I had wanted them too and I was given useful tips to make them look better. For example, I have a scene where a zombie is attacking one of the gang members, it was originally rather slow and dull. My tutor suggested that I play around with the edit a bit more, try and cut it up and add some more elements to it, he suggested I watch the murder scene in Psycho and this really helped inspire me.

One thing I would change about  my approach is that I would allow myself to delve deeper into research. I would collect and explore more than I did this time. I would also go into the directing position with a more confident attitude. I learned that if you are directing people and feel confident and assured about what you are doing they will feel the same, but if you go into something feeling timid and unsure the people you are leading can feel that too and it will effect their performance. I think these skills will affect my future course and career as they are things I need to improve so that I can make even better work. I would definitely keep exploring alternative methods such as using a VHS tape recorder and making props and sets myself, I found experimenting with such mediums exciting and interesting and would want to continue doing this further in my practices. I would also like to continue looking into the film side of promotion and learning as much as possible about techniques, editing, every little detail. Next year I will be attending London College of Fashion and studying creative direction. I think this will be an exciting opportunity to learn new things and begin developing my own knowledge and understanding of the fashion industry.